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2021 may have started on the very wrong foot in certain parts of the world, but the One Piece anime opened this year with a gargantuan bang with episode 957, which is the best thing I've ever witnessed from the show and I don't regret losing sleep over it.
The director responsible for this episode is Megumi Ishitani, a young and up and coming rising star within Toei Animation. She made her debut on the One Piece series on the 957th installment of its anime adaptation and god did she assert her artistic dominance big league!
Ishitani graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts' prestigious Geidai programme, which only admits the best art students in Japan. For perspective, they only open their doors roughly 12 or so people per year.
She then joined Toei Animation and got to work on a couple of projects and she impressed her superiors so much that she was given the chance to direct the final episode of Dragon Ball Super and her skills as a director immediately impressed a lot of fans around the world.
One Piece episode 957 marks her 2nd full on TV episode project and the result just blew me away. It is by far the most gorgeously directed episode on the franchise.
Her storyboard for this episode was 10/10, it's packed fantastic compositions and dynamic angles from beginning to the end. It's so hard to choose from since there are so many great shots. You rarely get to see this level of storyboarding in One Piece.
The japanese translation for storyboard is "e-konte", which directly translated stands for "image continuity". Continuity is something that I value a lot and I couldn't be happier with Ishitani's result. She tied together several parts of the world via seemles transitions.
Another thing which was abundantly clear in this episode is her utilization of striking colors, intense ligthing and highly refined cinematography and it's without a doubt the strongest usage of all these different elements since Yasunori Koyama's efforts on episode 950.
One of Ishitani's trademarks are those stylish lense flares of which there is an abundance of in this episode. It reminds me of Rie Matsumoto and Haruka Kamatani in a certain way.
On the animation side of things, there's a lot to say as well. This episode was packed with character acting to its core and I absolutely adored it. It's so rare to have an episode dedicated to solely character acting since it's usually action animation that dominates the show.
The best animated part of the episode comes from Masami Mori (aka Soty), who previously appeared on episode 953. He animated the entirety of the Big News Morgans section, injecting ridiculous amounts of life in that sequence. I'm so glad to see more of Soty on One Piece.
This scene has such a big sense of narrow space, thus accentuating the panic effect when the CP agend starts firing his gun thanks to Ishitani's phenomenal boarding skills and Soty bringing it to life perfectly with excellent layouts.
Ishitani x Soty is such an absurdly perfect combo. Morgans' chad stride and the cloud animation were unbelievable.
One Piece #1 action animator Katsumi Ishizuka brought us this great bit of character acting of Buggy D. Clown. His unique smears are ever so present here as well. It's cool to see him also tackle bits of character animation instead of explosive action scenes.
Another great piece of character acting comes from Masahiro Kitazaki. God the comedic timing when Koby is freaking out is just pure gold.
Incredibly cool vessel and liquid animation from our effects connoisseur, Junwen Tan.
The realistic camera shake makes you feel like you're on the ship with them. Such small details can truly elevate a scene way more than it might seem.
Another one of my favorite bits of animation from this episode has been provided us by french freelance animator Vincent Chansard. This is his first time on One Piece anime and I gotta say, the refined art and the fluid movement is what sells this scene
Couple that together with Ishitani's incredible board and it's just perfection. Ever since the Wano arc has started, more and more freelance animators have been showing up on the show and I hope it continues that way in the future.
Something else that sets Megumi Ishitani apart from other directors is her attention to details in those shots with King Cobra and King Riku and other small things such as the fish giving the illusion that it's gonna swim in Garp's tea cup.
In conclusion, this is easily a 10/10 episode and I hope that Megumi Ishtani will return for anoter episode and I hope that she'll influence the series with the new standard she's set on the show.
